D&D 5E Do you let PC's just *break* objects?

[Lanefan]

The only exception to the NPC not knowing the character is the occasional big bad that has been spying on or otherwise gathering information about the PCs. Occasionally I'll roll a check for a highly intelligent level monster such as a lich to see if they know anything about PCs that are higher level. Same as I'll grant the PCs knowledge. But I just had a big bad try to cause fear on a high level party when the paladin makes everyone immune. In part to make the paladin feel awesome, in part because it made sense that the creature didn't know anything about the party, or even paladins for that matter.

This all points to the advantages of writing (or choosing) adventures before you know which particular characters will be in them.

 

[Charlaquin]

Huh? I'm talking about not acting on knowledge that I as a player know that I do not think my PC would. I fail to see any irony here.

The irony is that method acting is all about the actor aligning their mindset as closely as possible with the character they’re portraying, in order to make the performance maximally authentic. The D&D equivalent of method acting wouldn’t be playing as if you didn’t know stuff that you do in fact know, it would be going to extreme lengths to actually avoid learning anything your character wouldn’t know. I would say @Lanefan’s approach is like method acting, not your preferred approach of simply trusting players not to metagame.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think someone walking around a confined space managing a 10' pole would be much more likely to blunder into a trap, not less.

Plus...it's just a goofy trope. Imagine the Mines of Moria, if the first thing the Fellowship did was get out a 10' pole before cautiously making their way ahead, probing gently as they went. Or the D&D movie, for that matter.

I agree that 10-foot polls are comically impractical. I can only imagine them working like tent poles, where they can be broken down into smaller sections for easier storage, cause otherwise good luck maneuvering through dungeon corridors with those things!

 

[Oofta]

The irony is that method acting is all about the actor aligning their mindset as closely as possible with the character they’re portraying, in order to make the performance maximally authentic. The D&D equivalent of method acting wouldn’t be playing as if you didn’t know stuff that you do in fact know, it would be going to extreme lengths to actually avoid learning anything your character wouldn’t know. I would say @Lanefan’s approach is like method acting, not your preferred approach of simply trusting players not to metagame.

It's impossible for me to not know stuff. I'm a DM, I'm going to know monsters that have been around for decades. Next best thing I can do is put myself in the shoes of my PC as best as possible. It's too bad if that doesn't live up to your impossible standards.

You don't care about metagaming. I prefer what I find to be a more immersive approach. That includes doing my best to only use the skills and knowledge of the PC.

 

[Lanefan]

I agree that 10-foot polls are comically impractical. I can only imagine them working like tent poles, where they can be broken down into smaller sections for easier storage, cause otherwise good luck maneuvering through dungeon corridors with those things!

In fairness, the typical dungeon corridor in 1e adventures is ten feet wide which makes the pole awkward but not hopeless. In WotC-era 5-foot-wide corridors it'd be a right pain.

 

[Charlaquin]

It's impossible for me to not know stuff. I'm a DM, I'm going to know monsters that have been around for decades.

Your DMs could use custom monsters, if that’s a concern for them. Or, they could just rely on you to choose to play your character as you imagine they would act if they didn’t know what you know. That’s a perfectly valid play preference, it just isn’t analogous to method acting.

Next best thing I can do is put myself in the shoes of my PC as best as possible. It's too bad if that doesn't live up to your impossible standards.

It’s not my impossible standards. You’re the one who made the method acting analogy. I was just pointing out that it’s a poor analogy, because in Stanislavsky’s method, the actor tries to align their experience with the character’s, which again, is more like how @Lanefan plays than how you do, from my understanding.

You don't care about metagaming. I prefer what I find to be a more immersive approach. That includes doing my best to only use the skills and knowledge of the PC.

Right, I got that. I’m just saying that’s not what method acting is like.

 

[Charlaquin]

In fairness, the typical dungeon corridor in 1e adventures is ten feet wide which makes the pole awkward but not hopeless. In WotC-era 5-foot-wide corridors it'd be a right pain.

Haha on the subject of impractical contrivances, standardized dungeon hall measurements… is one of those.

 

[Maxperson]

I could imagine 5e characters trying to envision the lives of players and wondering how we could know about things like cholesterol levels, BMI indexes etc.
Characters immersed in the worlds of D&D may be very familiar with things like level jumps, acquisition of hit points, and the trading of hit dice over a short rest. These are the things that they live with and with which they may have become very familiar.

They can't know hit points, though. From 1e on they have been abstract and represent luck, skill, divine intervention, physicality and more, and not even in the same proportions from day to day. There's nothing for them to be able to figure out. Hit points are purely for players.

 

[Charlaquin]

They can't know hit points, though. From 1e on they have been abstract and represent luck, skill, divine intervention, physicality and more, and not even in the same proportions from day to day. There's nothing for them to be able to figure out. Hit points are purely for players.

Agreed, although various editions have given some guidance on how DMs might narrate HP and HP loss. It varies from edition to edition, but 5e describes visible signs of wear first appearing at half HP, and the hit that reduces a target to 0 HP being a direct hit. This can be a handy way to communicate relative HP values diegetically, if it’s done consistently.

 

[Maxperson]

I've honestly never understood the 10 foot pole. A regular staff could be used to tap ahead but most traps other than the occasional trip wire won't be triggered by a stick anyway.

A lot of DMs had invisible or illusion covered traps that the pole would reveal. As it would a corridor with a section of stone that was like quicksand. And so on. Traps got really inventive in 1e.